The Iliad, Books VIII-XI

Zeus chooses a side

• Hector and the Trojans chase the Greeks back to their ships.

• Agamemnon asks Zeus for a sign.

• Zeus sends an eagle carrying a fawn to indicate he will not slaughter all the Greeks.

Book VIII: Agamemnon rallies the Greeks

• Teucer kills many Trojans with his bow until Hector breaks his collarbone.

• ​Zeus helps the Trojans keep the Greeks pinned; Hera and Athena try to help, but are chastised by Zeus.

• Nightfall pauses the battle.

Book VIII: The Greeks are pinned

Arguments among the Greeks

• Teucer chastises Agamemnon for wanting to flee the war.

• He tells Agamemnon that he can leave, but the others will stay.

Teucer doubts Agamemnon

• Nestor tells Agamemnon to apologize to Achilles and offer him reparations.

• Agamemnon agrees.

Nestor offers wisdom

• Achilles refuses to accept the apology and gifts.

• He says his mother told him he had two paths: 1) stay and fight at Troy, die, and be remembered forever; 2) return home, live a long life, but be forgotten.​

The Future of Achilles

The Greeks spy on the Trojans

• The two men return after spying on the Trojans.

• They come back with Tracian horses (sigma) after killing a dozen people.

The return of Diomedes & Odysseus

The battle rages on

• Agamemnon kills many Trojans before he is injured.​

• Hector kills many Greeks when he enters the battlefield.

• Paris shoots Diomedes in the foot, but it doesn't seriously injure him.​

Death walking

• Odysseus is injured (but Athena stops him from dying), and Menelaus carries him off the field.

• Ajax ​slowly retreats, and the Greeks wait behind their wall.

The Greeks retreat

• Patroclus visits the injured tent.

• Nestor and Machaon tell Patroclus they don't understand why Achilles refuses to fight.

• Machaon makes a fatherly appeal to Patroclus.

Achilles sends Patroclus